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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25386271">Dana Has Enough</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArthurianScribe/pseuds/ArthurianScribe'>ArthurianScribe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bad Parent Jack Drake, Child Neglect, Dana steps up to the plate, Dana's going to give him one, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Good parent Dana Winters, I'm Bad At Titles, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Jack Drake doesn't know how to parent, Minor Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake, Minor Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent, POV Jack Drake, Sad Tim Drake, Tim Drake &amp; Bart Allen - Freeform, Tim Drake &amp; Cassie Sandsmark - Freeform, Tim Drake &amp; Connor Kent - Freeform, Tim Drake Deserves Better, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake is Robin, Tim Drake's Birthday, Tim Drake-centric, no beta we die like robins, that's not really relevant for anything other than timing, why is so hard to tag Connor Kent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:55:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25386271</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArthurianScribe/pseuds/ArthurianScribe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Drake forgets Tim's birthday again.</p><p>Thank god the kid has Dana.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Drake &amp; Tim Drake, Jack Drake/Dana Winters, Tim Drake &amp; Dana Winters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>517</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Jack's Parenting is Questionable at Best</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Tim deserves to have someone in his family stick up for him, so for his birthday I decided to give him just that.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jack wasn’t exactly sure what he had done wrong, but he was definitely in trouble.</p><p>“You’re joking, right?” Dana’s jaw hung lower than he’d ever seen it. Normally Jack loved how much more expressive than Janet his new wife was, but right now it was making something uncomfortable twist in his guts. “You really don’t know why I’m asking if you and Tim have plans for tomorrow?”</p><p>Hoping to avoid making this situation worse, Jack haltingly asked “did Tim say something about plans? I might have forgotten, I guess.” Dana’s face was not softening. Abort. Abort. “Whatever it is, I’ll make it up to you,” he promised as he reached a hand out to rest softly on her arm.</p><p>Dana’s expression did finally shift though it was into something he might have called sadness if that made anny sense in this situation. Jack understood how to deal with anger. He wasn’t sure what to do with sadness, or what it had to do with Tim to be honest.</p><p>“Forget it Jack.” Except, rather than sliding under the covers with him, Dana grabbed her phone and made to leave the room.</p><p>“Dana, sweetheart its late! Come back to bed, love,” he implored.  </p><p>She shook her head, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear as she did. “I’ll be back, there’s just something I need to take care of first.”</p><p>Jack decided to let it go, figuring she would have forgiven him for whatever he’d done to annoy her by morning.</p><p>-0<br/>
[JdJdJd]<br/>
-0</p><p>Jack was not forgiven by morning. Not if the throw blanket on the couch or the chilly glance he got when he came into the kitchen were any indication.</p><p>Though if she meant to rattle him, she was going to be disappointed. Jack was an old pro at managing an angry wife. If acted oblivious for long enough, she would have to explain what had her so upset, and then he could apologize until he was forgiven.</p><p>Course of action decided, he pulled up a chair next to Tim with an intentionally cheerful, “morning, son!”</p><p>Apparently he was a little to loud in his greeting or a little too quite in his approach, however, because Tim jumped hard enough to barely avoid sloshing his coffee.</p><p>“Nice save, kid!” And he was surprised by the warmth that filled him when Tim shot him a shy smile of thanks. He’d forgotten how good it felt to prompt that particular smile, rather than the carefully curated collection of smiles Janet had trained into him. God. It was way to early to be thinking about Janet.</p><p>“What are you up to today, kid?” Jack didn’t miss the questioning glance Tim sent Dana at Jack’s question.</p><p>“Um… I was going to meet up with a couple of my friends to hang out this afternoon, and then Dick’s picking me up at six for dinner at the manor. Did… did you have plans for today?” Why was everyone in Jack’s house sending him confused looks all of a sudden? Did he miss some kind of memo? Well, if they wanted something from him they should just say so. Jeez.</p><p>Jack waited to reply as Dana went around dropping plates of eggs and borrowed toast in front of each table setting. It seemed she put his down with slightly more force than necessary, but Jack was going to stick to his plan. “I was thinking Dana and I might go see that new romantic comedy she’s been talking about.” There. Let his wife remember why she married him. He could be romantic.</p><p>“Oh.” Was that disappointment in Tim’s voice? “Well, that soun-”</p><p>“Actually,” Dana interrupted with a grin that made her look five years younger, “I was hoping Tim might be willing to take me to the new photography exhibit at the Gotham Museum of Art this morning.” Tim’s whole body perked up, and Dana seemed to take that as encouragement. “It’s supposed to be themed around heroism and my friend Megan said that the photographer got some really good shots of Nightwing,” she coaxed. </p><p>Any disappointment that Tim may or may not have shown earlier was definitely gone now. “That would be great, Dana!” His smile was blinding. “Let me go text Connor that I might have to push our meet up back a couple hours. I’ll be right back!”</p><p>Dana leaned back in her chair with a gentle smile that turned down right predatory when she turned back to Jack.</p><p>Jabbing her fork at him accusatorily, she whispered “now that is how you celebrate a birthday, Jack Drake.”</p><p>Oh. Oh. So, that’s what he’d forgotten. Tim would be turning what fifteen? sixteen? Jack had to do some mental math to remember how old his son would be turning today, and that did not help with the sudden nausea overcoming him. Fuck. </p><p>He wasn’t sure how long he sat there staring at the eggs he no longer had the appetite to eat. It wasn’t until Tim practically ran back in fully dressed with his camera around his neck, and when was the last tiem he saw that camera, and Dana rose to drop her empty plate in the sink that Jack felt himself come back to reality.</p><p>“You ready to go, Tim?” Dana asked in a voice sunnier than Janet’s ever had been. Tim’s responding “Yup!” was just as exuberant though.</p><p>Suddenly, Tim was walking out the door, and Jack knew he couldn’t leave it like that. Spurred on by a wave of panic, he forced out a rushed “Happy birthday, Timothy!” </p><p>Dana raised an eyebrow at him, but Tim looked at him the same way he used to when Jack and Janet would come back after being gone for more than a month. Like he was shocked that they had remembered him after all but was pleasantly surprised they had.</p><p>Jack wanted to yell. Wanted to ask why that was such a surprise. Why his son expected him to fail. It wasn’t fair. He was trying so hard, but here Dana had to… had to make sure his kid something special on his birthday. He supposed there wasn’t much point in trying to argue anyway. They were already gone.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Tim Finally Gets a Happy Birthday</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tim gets to celebrate with the people who love and appreciate him.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Finally finished! I realize that canon says that at this point Connor and the other Titans are not supposed to know Tim's civilian ID but given that it's a stupid ass decision I've elected to ignore it. It's my canon now bitches.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Every once in a while, even the people you know best manage to surprise you. What Dana really ought to have remembered, however, was that no one ever said those surprises were always pleasant.  And it wasn’t just that Jack had forgotten his son’s birthday that really was so upsetting to Dana. No, the worst part was when Tim came down that morning and was obviously so unsurprised that his dad didn’t remember.</p>
<p>Dana had worked so hard to give Jack the benefit of the doubt when he and Tim fought. She knew that Jack had been ashamed of not spending enough time with Tim when he was little. He had talked about it all the time during his physical therapy appointments after he woke up from the coma. Back then he had been so excited about all his plans to be a better father, and she had believed him. But at some point, they had grown complacent and fallen back into old patterns. </p>
<p>Dana had been concerned about Tim and Jack for a while now but had stayed out of it because she wasn’t Tim’s mom. She wasn’t his parent, and it didn’t feel like her place to interfere in how Jack raised his son. But she would be damned if she let a child feel forgotten on his birthday. </p>
<p>Now, listening to Tim gush over some of the better photography exhibits he had seen at the museum before, but how he hadn’t had found time to see this one yet, Dana was really glad she had taken the time last night to do some last minute research into potential activities to do today.  It had been harder than she expected to find something she was confident Tim would like. She had realized she had almost no idea what Tim was interested in, what he did with his free time. It had been an embarrassing realization to come to about someone she lived with.  She had been almost ready to give up when she remembered the museum exhibit one of her college friends had posted about on Facebook the week before. She hadn’t even known that Tim had a camera like that when she decided to invite him, just remembering how obviously interested he was every time the news had anything to say about the Justice league or Gotham’s rotating roster of vigilantes. </p>
<p>She needed to do better. This kid deserved it.</p>
<p>She was almost disappointed when she finally pulled the car into the museum parking lot because she had never seen Tim this animated before.  He had moved on from past exhibits to some of his favorite photographers to explaining just why it was so hard to get good superhero photos, particularly of nocturnal vigilantes and why this exhibit was such a big deal, but he pulled himself up short when the car came to a stop. Dana was honestly surprised his teeth didn’t make an audible clicking sound, he shut his mouth so quickly. She turned to Tim in the passenger seat.</p>
<p>“You okay, Tim?”</p>
<p>He looked startled by the question, and a little sheepish too. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to talk your ear off like that.” Tim didn’t meet her eyes. That wasn’t going to work.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about it, kiddo.  I thought it was really interesting. I had no idea that so much work went into trying to photograph superheroes, especially as art.”</p>
<p>“Oh, okay.” Dana didn’t think she was imagining the little smile on Tim’s face.</p>
<p>“C’mon, let’s go inside.”</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>Once inside the exhibit, it was like Tim forgot Dana was there, he was so focused on each piece. To Dana, they were just photos of superheroes. Really cool photos of superheroes, of course, but she was sure she was missing some deeper layers of meaning that were obvious to the more art savvy patrons around her.  She started wandering around the exhibit. </p>
<p>She stopped in front of a large photo blown up in front on a massive canvas. It was obviously taken in Gotham, with a camera that probably had a great zoom feature if the subject matter was any indication.  Standing in the light of a burning building was a little girl, no more than five years old. But what really made this one standout was the man in a domino mask crouched down in front of her, a red helmet at his side and one hand offering a lollipop to the kid. </p>
<p>Dana wasn’t sure what made her stand there so long.  Maybe it was how calm the child looked in front of a man that scared the majority of Gotham adults. Maybe it was the realization that the Red Hood didn’t look all that much older than Tim. Practically a child himself. Dana stood there, just staring at those two children until she heard a quiet click beside her. </p>
<p>Startled, she looked to the side at the child next to her. Tim was focused on the camera screen, probably reviewing the photo he snuck, until he met her gaze with a crooked grin. “Sorry.” Something told Dana he wasn’t really that sorry. “I just really wanted to capture the look on your face.”</p>
<p>Dana rolled her eyes playfully. “Well, on that not-at-all creepy note I’m going to go look at some other photos.” Tim acquiesced. And she left him focused on the Red Hood with a strange expression of his own on his face. </p>
<p>Thinking she ought to let Tim enjoy the exhibit for a minute, she decided to swing by the giftshop. After all, at this point she could practically guarantee Jack hadn’t gotten the kid anything. Maybe they’d have something he’d like.  </p>
<p>---</p>
<p>About five minutes later, Dana was incredibly frustrated. Why was everything so gimmicky? Almost everything in here was so obviously touristy, which, honestly, was patently ridiculous. What tourists were coming to Gotham. That’s what Metropolis was for.</p>
<p>Then she saw it. Yes, that would be perfect.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>If Tim had questions about what was in the plastic bag with the GMA’s logo on it when Dana rejoined him, he didn’t ask them. Honestly, that was probably a symptom of a bigger problem, but Dana was going to leave that for another day.  </p>
<p>Instead she just stood next to Tim as he examined the info tag next to a photo of Nightwing mid-backflip from one roof to another while Robin jumped after him with significantly less fanfare.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>We really should do this more often, Dana thought as she watched Tim wave his hands around, sweeping gestures helping him tell some story about his friend Cassie trying to walk him and two other boys through her mother’s brownie recipe and it going terribly, terribly wrong.  </p>
<p>Tim was actually a pretty good storyteller once you got him going, and he seemed to relish the opportunity to talk about his friends to someone who didn’t know them. She had already gotten a thirty-minute lecture on what made each of them so great and so exasperating, and Dana had had to hide her smile in her burger when he spent more time than he had on both Bart and Cassie combined on describing this Connor.  The obliviousness here was probably the universe’s way of balancing out Tim’s genius because wow was Dana realizing just how brilliant this kid was.  She had always known he was smart but it broke her heart to think that she had been missing so much of who this kid was for so long. </p>
<p>She wondered whether playboy Bruce Wayne realized just how wonderful Tim was. If the Waynes had always known Tim better than his actual family. If the way Tim talked about them was any indication, they probably did.  She wondered if Tim would rather still be living with them. If he had ever let himself ask that question.</p>
<p>But if he didn’t want to go there, Dana wasn’t going to make him. </p>
<p>“So, were you able to get the mix off the ceiling?”</p>
<p>Dana was quickly learning not to trust Tim’s “innocent” expression. </p>
<p>“Of course we did,” he grinned, “just not before it dripped all in Dick’s hair.”  If Dick Grayson ever asked, Dana most certainly did not laugh so hard she choked on a french fry.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>When Tim tentatively asked if Dana would like to come to dinner at Wayne Manor with him as she dropped him off to meet up with his friends, she was far more hesitant to accept than she would have been even a day before.  On the one hand, it was Wayne Manor. No one got a private invitation to Wayne Manor, and she had been curious about these people that had taken Tim in for so long. But, she couldn’t help but feel like she’d be an intruder.  Against her better judgment, she said yes. </p>
<p>---</p>
<p>It was strange to go to dinner somewhere without Jack. She really needed to get out more, regardless of how Jack felt.  She tried to suppress the feeling of not belonging as she fiddled with the hem of her two-year-old blouse as she waited in front of the ornate wooden door. As she squeezed the painstakingly wrapped package in her arms, she tried to bring in a deep breath. This was fine. Everything was fine. Tim had asked her here, hadn’t he? Of course, he may have only been trying to be polite…</p>
<p>She wasn’t able to go any farther down that path, however, before the door was unceremoniously yanked open to reveal Tim grinning straight at her. When did he get so tall?</p>
<p>“Dana! You made it!” He didn’t ask where Jack was, which was good because Dana didn’t want to tell Tim his dad was sulking because Dana refused to try to comfort him in his guilt over forgetting his son's birthday again. Shaking unpleasant thoughts out of her head Dana grinned straight back, handing Tim the gift she had bought that afternoon. </p>
<p>“Of course, I did! You didn’t think I’d miss Mr. Pennyworth’s cooking after hearing you talk it up all day?” Mentioning Alfred Pennyworth was apparently the right call because it clearly reminded Tim that he was supposed to step away from the door if he wanted her to be able to come in and he quickly backed up, present in hand.</p>
<p>Dana followed him into the house, and then towards what could only be described as a cacophony of noise.  Several voices were busy talking over each other even though she couldn’t make out any of the words. Tim seemed quite amused by her trepidation to actually walk through the door to the dining room. Rude.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>The introductions hadn’t been nearly as awkward as she’d feared. Granted, she’d gotten appraising looks from just about everyone in the room and it had gotten a little tense, but everyone had been polite. Dana had been guided to a spot to the left of Mr. Wayne’s seat at the head of the table and directly across from Mr. Pennyworth, and she had to admit that neither of them had really been what she expected.  </p>
<p>Pennyworth had waited to join them until after he had brought out the meal, and it was some of the best food she had ever tasted by far.  He was also hilarious, which was the unexpected bit. Dana had been prepared for a formal British gentleman, and he was that. But Dana had not been ready to watch him sass the richest man in Gotham twice in the first ten minutes of the meal. She now understood why Tim said Alfred was really the one in charge.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Mr. “Call me Bruce, Dana, I insist!” Wayne was unerringly polite, but there was a quiet sort of intensity about him that was not apparent in the stories told in the society pages. If there wasn’t so much blatant fondness on his face when he glanced at the playfully arguing kids at the other end of the table, she might’ve called him intimidating.</p>
<p>The kids, on the other hand, were everything Tim had said they were, and Dana couldn’t be happier.  Dick Grayson had been mercilessly teasing Tim and the other chattering kids, perfectly playing the embarrassing older brother while making sure that no one was left out or overly picked on. As for the other children, she had also been introduced to the infamous Cassie, Bart, and Connor she’d heard so much about at lunch followed by a purple-clad blonde. Tim’s cheeks had been bright pink when he’d introduced Stephanie as his girlfriend. Interesting…</p>
<p>Dana didn’t really know where she fit into the clearly well-established dynamic of the group, but that was okay. She was here to make sure that Tim had people in his life who understood just how special he was, and these people seemed to understand that even better than Dana. Again, today was one humbling experience after another.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>Dana was embarrassingly nervous when Tim picked up her gift last.  Everyone else’s gifts had seemed so meaningful, and there had been a plethora of inside jokes involved. Plus, she had the uncomfortable feeling that everyone was treating this as a sort of test, to see if she really deserved to be here, to be around someone like Tim, and were waiting to find her wanting. Maybe she was being ridiculous, but damn if her heart wasn’t pounding anyway.</p>
<p>Tim opened the present slowly, to the consternation of the red-headed kid, Bart her mind supplied, who let out a comically loud groan of impatience.  Finally, Tim pealed the last of the tape back and unfolded the last of the paper, pulling out the book within.</p>
<p>Dana felt the room go still as he opened it up to the middle, allowing the rest of the room to see the cover.  It seemed like everyone turned to look at her in perfect unison, and she was hit with the impression that she had made a serious mistake.</p>
<p>“I just- You were talking about how hard it was to find good photos of the Gotham vigilantes, so…” </p>
<p>When Dana had seen the book claiming to be a compilation of the best photos of all of the Bats, she had figured he might appreciate it. She’d seen the batman and robin pins on his backpack after all. But the way everyone was looking at her, she was beginning to wonder if she had made a mistake, that is until…</p>
<p>“Well,” drawled Dick Grayson. “Timmy does love his Batman pictures.” And the room dissolved into laughter at a joke Dana didn’t understand. All of a sudden, everyone was talking over each other, telling various Tim stories, as the boy in question carefully paged through the book in silence. He paused for a long time on a recent image of Robin and Spoiler flying overhead.  </p>
<p>No, Dana thought with a smile, she might not understand all of the inside jokes, but she understood the silent thank you Tim sent over everyone else’s heads just fine, and that was enough for her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for all of your comments on the first chapter, it really meant a lot. Also, if it wasn't clear, the reason Tim paused so long on the Robin photo was because he only had photos of Dick and Jason as Robin. This is the first time he has any of himself in the role. I thought that would be something he would appreciate. Plus, I wanted someone in his civilian life to really listen to him about his interests since Jack kinda seems to just project what he thinks Tim should like.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'll come back later with either a sequel or second chapter about Dana &amp; Tim's trip, but for now, I'm marking it complete.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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